Mission Accomplished
by belikebumblebee
Summary: The whole Snag, Bag & Tag thing was all fun and games most of the time, but on this mission, they had crossed the line to annoying and exhausting a while ago. Also, Helena's middle name was neither 'Giselle' nor 'Geraldine', Myka's patience did, in fact, end at some point and a hungry Pete is not a happy Pete.


Yes, well, I'm not that good at writing action scenes, but I might be getting there some day. Also, keep it mind: Not a native speaker, yadeyadeyada.  
No spoilers, a pinch of Myka/Helena.  
Enjoy :)

* * *

The whole Snag, Bag & Tag thing was all fun and games most of the time, but on this mission, they had crossed the line to annoying and exhausting a while ago.

It wasn't only that they had missed out on a few meals (well, Myka and Helena had, Pete had feasted on a twinkie he'd found under the passenger's seat), they were used to that.

But the twenty three hours chase had been boring, depletive and enervating.

Out of the car - a little too late! - back into the car, relocate the czech bastard and his artifact, on the road again (faster this time). They kept losing time because they had to refuel and took terms driving.

While one of them had steered Myka's SUV high speed and took in as much caffeine as possible, the other two had tried to find out were the czechs went, but there seemed to be no pattern at all, and the horrible internet reception didn't make research any easier. After ten hours, they had started bickering (»Peter, is it really necessary to push the seat so far back?« »Well, Helena _Gertrude_, I have long legs!« »So have I. And my middle name is not '_Gertrude_'.« »H.G., just move behind me, and then shut up, the both of you, I can't concentrate.«), which ultimately lead to Myka snapping at everyone (including the GPS - »I recommend turning on right.« »Well, yeah, that's because you're _stupid._«), Pete complaining about everything and Helena being stunned into pouting silence.

And on top of that, it was freezing cold and they had to turn the heater up, which made the air so dry that Myka started to lose her voice at some point.

All in all, it was horrible - but in this case, time was key.

_Multiplying artifacts can cause wars,_ Artie had said over the Farnsworth, _if he builds an army before you stop him, it's not likely that you will after he did. _

* * *

When they finally pulled up next to the truck they had been chasing, it was six in the morning, Myka felt carsick, Pete's eyes were small and Helena picked up some fresh snow to rub her face with in order to shoo away the fatigue.

»Let us get this over with quickly«, she said and turned to the warehouse that towered in front of them. It was far more modern than Warehouse 13, had considerably less appeal and they had no clue what the czechs were doing here, but the footsteps in the snow led from the truck right to its gate.

»Is there a plan?«

Myka shrugged. »I say we go in and try to retrieve the artifact. We have no idea what we're dealing with in there, so there''s really no point in plotting. But maybe we should try and be quiet, hide our arrival as long as possible.«

The three of them shared a look and agreed silently.

For the spur of a moment, Myka felt Helena's fingertips on the back of her hand, but a heart beat later she was walking towards the storage space.

»Come on, Mykes.«

Pete drew his Tesla and followed, but stopped abruptly when the vibe hit him so hard it took the air out of his lungs.

»Wait«, he spat when he could breathe again, »there's something wrong.«

The two women froze mid-step, knowing better than to ignore his gut.

They watched as Pete snuck closer to the building, all senses alert. He lowered his ear to the door and nodded to himself, but before they could wonder what was going on,

he put his Tesla away, pulled his gun and fired.

* * *

»_Pete!_« Myka's scream drowned in the sound of the explosion as the gate blew up.

She had started running without noticing, H.G. on her heels, suddenly she stood in the smoking remains of the door. »I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm good, I'm fine!«, it coughed from somewhere to her left. Pete stumbled towards her and Myka felt the relief rushing through her like clean air.

»It was booby trapped!«

She stared at him. »No kidding! Didn't I say ,be quiet'?«

»You also said ,_as long as possible_'!«

»By which I didn't mean ,Let's pull a suicide mission and set off a bomb first chance there is!'«

»Dear fellow agents« , Helena interrupted, »may I propose we reschedule this discussion and go in?«

Myka shot Pete one last look and stepped through the broken gate. They split up, Pete to the right, Helena to her left.

The fog lightened before their eyes and slowly revealed the inside of the warehouse.

At first they only saw the chaos Pete's little explosion had caused - broken down shelves and parts of the wall, dust flying and broken windows.

And then they noticed the czechs. Ten of them.

Three seconds of silence and mutual staring passed. Then Myka awakened.

»Secret Service, put your hands above your heads, please!«

With an eardrum-shattering sound two bullets cut through the air right where her head had been split seconds ago, but Myka was already gone - she had dived for the ground the instant one of them had felt for his holster.

»Are you alright?«, called Helena through the noise of gunshots and things breaking, her voice stern with repressed concern.

»Fine«, she hurried to answer, coughing out dust. God, this was absolutely hateful. They were all tired and the air cut into their lungs like tiny ice splinters, none of this was badass or fun at all but severely dangerous and exhausting as hell. Myka elbowed the huge man coming at her in the crotch before she rolled up to her feet and slapped his face - both of which didn't seem to bother him much. Across the room, Helena struggled with five czechs at once, and Pete was next to Myka all of a sudden, cursing and fumbling for his Tesla, but too slow: Big Guy a had already drawn his gun. »Oh for _Christ's sake!_« With a cry of frustration, Myka grabbed the next object and crushed his hands, Pete finally got his Tesla out and put him out for good. »Go!«, he yelled.

And she went, tesla-ing the first of Helena's attackers while roundhouse-kicking the second in the head, using the swing of her body to crash a third into a column. Helena, meanwhile, used the respite to send the last two out cold. »Thanks, darling.« Myka tasted iron in her mouth as she drew ragged breaths. »Quite alright.«

Both headed over to Pete, who had made proper use of the time, finishing two more; and had also found the artifact, unfortunately in the hands of the last czech standing.

He grinned at them and shrugged as he started to multiply, quickly vanishing in the mass of his newly arisen minions. »Great. Shell game.«, Pete spat and Helena raised her arm to tesla twice.

The replica czech she hit didn't respond in the way they thought he would -

instead, he and the rest of the mob started moving towards them, slowly but steady, to which Pete responded by pointing his gun at them. The time for teslas was over.

»Stop nearing us or I will shoot you.«

A bullet flew for him, he dodged it and fired - the czech he hit fell to the floor and vanished. Their relief was short-lived: Two heartbeats later, two new minions rose from were the first had been.

Myka drew her gun as well now, alert and ready but fully aware that they should use the guns as little as possible. »Hey, _what are you doing?_«_, _she shrieked when Helena slipped away and out of her sight. »I don't have a gun! Cover me!«, the inventor's voice traveled to their ears from somewhere - Pete and Myka just shared a look and started distracting the crowd.

They functioned so well in hand to hand combat, giving and taking each other opportunities, covering and having each other's backs. But they were tired, not at their best, and that was why Pete doubled over in pain all of a sudden; a punch in the stomach had taken him by surprise.

»Helena! Hurry up!«, Myka yelled - right before she took a kick to the face, her ears ringing and pain dashing through her nerve system. There were shouts from above, Myka didn't quite understand at first, her head hurt - but apparently Helena had climbed the inner structure of the warehouse in order to make out the one czech that was different from the others - by randomly shooting tesla beams at them. Successfully, as it turned out, because Myka saw one guy lying on the floor without fading to thin air, and Helena's sharp voice filled the air.

»... Snag it, Pete! He's right there!«

Myka snapped back into focus and lifted her gun to shoot the man that kept Pete from the artifact, he leapt forward - but she couldn't see what happened next. She had raised the crowd's attention and they started closing in on her, avoiding all her efforts to fight them back, ducking from her fists and elbows and kicks, they caught her wrists and hands reached for her neck, _leave me alone - _

and then they disappeared and gave view to Pete, propped up on his knees and a violet bag in his left hand. Myka gasped and felt for her throat.

Up on the column, Helena sighed in relief and pressed her cheek against the cold metal as she took a deep breath. It was over. Close enough.

* * *

It was lousy cold and Pete had to sit down for a moment because his stomach hurt; so they quietly sank down to the steps that were frozen over and listened to the sound of snow falling and landing and adding to the white blanket that stretched as far as they could see.

Helena's hands were cracked and bled as if covered in paper cuts and Myka's left eye started to swell shut, all of them were too tired to say anything.

The world around them was really silent and their breath hung in white clouds around their pale faces. It was actually kind of beautiful, not counting the weight of twenty-six sleepless hours.

Helena's head sank on Myka's shoulder and Myka rested her temple on Helena's hair.

Pete smiled at that - sometimes he almost forgot the two of them were together, with all their discretion. Maybe they didn't want anyone to think they were compromised because of their relationship.

That they let him witness this moment of closeness felt like a sign of confidence. He sat as motionless as he could to not intrude on this.

He didn't envy them at all; watching each other in constant danger was no fun, and he had seen what happened to Jack and Rebecca. Maybe they didn't want him or anyone else to feel left out and that was why they usually refrained from public display of affection. But he didn't mind - this was not about Helena being more of a partner to Myka or anything. This was about happiness and

Pete didn't begrudge it to either of them.

Myka, oblivious to his thoughts, sighed and put an arm around her woman.

»I love you«, Helena told her in a small voice.

»I know«, she answered and huddled against her, throwing Pete a glance that was almost apologetic. He smiled back, as reassuring as he could, and she continued,

»That's because you're stupid. Gerlinde.«

»It's not ,Gerlinde'.«


End file.
